Wendy Sherman, the US nominee for Deputy Secretary of State, suggested that even if negotiations are concluded leading the US to rejoin the P5+1 nuclear deal with Iran, the US would keep many of its anti-Iran sanctions in place.
Testifying to the Senate at her confirmation hearing, a former Undersecretary of State, emphasized that she’d written many sanctions on Iran that weren’t specifically about the nuclear program, and that she believes those should stay in effect even with the deal.
That’s going to be a tough sell if negotiations begin, as it once again frames the US as looking duplicitous, offering to make a deal which once again they have no intention of honoring the terms of.
Sherman’s comments are likely meant for the Senate’s consumption, assuring them that the Biden Administration will keep the US hostility toward Iran roughly intact, irrespective of public diplomacy that suggests the US is interested in a pact. She assured Congress that Biden would consult them on any sanctions relief.
Iran’s likely to be very on guard for this. President Obama, after all, made a deal and never really came through with the sanctions relief promised. President Trump then formally severed the deal, and tried to impose new sanctions, but since everything was still in effect, not too much changed.
Some are hoping to sell Iran on getting back to the good old days of Obama, but rhetoric aside, the sanctions relief is what Iran really wants, and they’ve gone through not getting it before.
If Biden is serious about a diplomatic overture to Iran, he likely is going to have to come up with something that will show them he is trustworthy, because Iranian officials who are inclined to a deal have to sell that to hardliners who will remind them that America’s track record of making good on promises isn’t great.
The original JCPOA specifically stated that the U.S. was allowed to sanction Iran all it wanted just as long as they did not try to make the extra-territorial sanctions. It does sound like she is playing to the audience.
No. The 2015 JCPOA specified an immediate end to the UN, US and EU economic sanctions on Iran. The UNSC sanctions were lifted in January of 2016. The US Republican-controlled Congress refused to lift US sanctions, however, and went around the world threatening everyone else with sanctions if they did not continue to boycott Iran. . . details here
The basic problem is that this international agreement, a treaty, was done w/o the advice and consent of the Senate as required by the Constitution. Treating it as a Democratic agreement left it wide open to Republican attacks, which happened.
Here is an article that looks at Iran’s latest moves in the nuclear stalemate:
https://viableopposition.blogspot.com/2021/02/the-biden-administration-and-iran-file.html
It would appear that Washington has a very short window to respond to Iran’s requests.
Sherman, et al awaiting for orders from Israel.
No, those orders have already been rec’d: No lifting of sanctions.
Wendy Sherman served Israel under the Obama Admin, flying there to report on every development before anyone else heard, and assisting their every effort to sabotage the Iran Deal.
Of course she suggests Iran will gain as little as possible from any deal done. Her every effort was to defeat a deal, while trying to distort that and look as if she wasn’t..
a.i.p.a.c. is a cancer in the u.s. government.